Thank you and good night.

We regret to inform you that we've decided to cancel this project. We only have a couple of days left in the campaign and still need over 50% of our funding. Realistically, I don't see how we can possibly make goal.

Legitimately, anyway.

And that's the bigger concern. Given all of the international attention this campaign has gotten over the past week, it's very possible that another "Kicktroll" (or group of trolls) could swoop in at the last minute and artificially "fund" the campaign. This project likely has a big red target painted on it now, and our genuine backers shouldn't have to pay for that.

This hasn't been an easy decision to make, but Kam and I have been discussing it for a few days now and think it's the best course of action given the circumstances.

Now, it's not all doom and gloom! We do have a few things to be very proud of.

We were able to get nearly $12,000 in pledges for what was essentially a pitch for an untried and unfinished middle grade graphic novel that was to be delivered digitally over the course of a year. "Incomplete things" have always had a hard time on Kickstarter, as have digital comics projects, as well as comics projects perceived as "all ages."

So we had all of that going against us and still managed to top many print drives.

We have you -- our incredible backers -- to thank for that!

We also managed to get a few shoutouts in high-profile outlets like USA Today and io9, and were featured as a Kickstarter Project of the Day early on in the campaign. Very few projects can lay claim to all of that, especially something as quirky as Crimson Rhen.

So what does the future hold for Crimson Rhen? For now, sadly, this book will have to be tucked away in a drawer. We'll investigate other publishing options in the future, but it's just not the kind of project that's right for Kickstarter.

We're thinking of taking a second Shadowbinders print book to Kickstarter sometime next year, but will have to carefully weigh how and when to go about it.

So we part ways for now, friends of Rhen. Know that you were all fantastic!

Comments

I second what Elliander said earlier. You'd probably have a lot better luck running this again in February. December is a tough month, man, really tough. I'm thinking of switching to Festivus this year 'cause it's WAY cheaper, lol. Plus, folks in the US start getting tax refunds and the like after February so... give it another try, please.
I will be getting a hat; I love the hat.
One good thing about all this is that your readership for Shadowbinders is sure to have increased.
Happy Holidays to You and Yours...
Shari

When (not if) you relaunch this project, be it on Kickstarter or in some other form, please update here so those of us who wanted to back it can do so again :)

Personally, I have seen projects do OK in one month, then cancel and relaunch with a few minor tweaks to the stretch goals and then blow their previous funding goals out of the water - although that is sometimes because the people backing it might have more money to invest the month after. Personally, I once backed a campaign for around $30 and after it cancelled and relaunched I upped it to around $300 just because I had more money by the deadline. So really, trolls aside, it never hurts to at least try relaunching. If this campaign relaunched I would certainly pledge a higher amount for at least a limited edition hard cover due to the same factors.